Review – SilverStone LS02 RGB LED Strip

It’s the year 2017. Nothing is complete without RGB LEDs these days, and your PC case is no exception – no matter how old your PC case already is. This is where RGB LED strips like the SilverStone LS02 comes in. Get a unit of the SilverStone LS02, wire them up and stick them in your case. Instantly, your gaming rig will look much flashier.

Of course, you’ll have to check for compatibility first. You’ll need a motherboard that supports ASUS Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, ASRock Aura, or get an RGB control box like the NZXT Hue+ or the SilverStone LSB01.

Unboxing

Funny enough, the SilverStone LS02 comes in a rather boring-looking box. It’s a tiny box, and that’s all it needs.

Opening up the box reveals two SilverStone LS02 RGB LED strips separated by a piece of paper that serves as both a partition and also a user manual. Clever packaging design there, SilverStone!

1 of 4

Digging everything out reveals two separate RGB LED strips and two Y-cables. You’ll need the Y-cable to connect the RGB LED strip from the motherboard to the LED strip – at least in my case with the ASRock X370 K4.

Left side connects to the RGB LED strip, whereas the right side connects to your motherboard’s RGB header.

Specs

Here are the specifications from SilverStone’s product page for the LS02. However, it does not reveal all of the finer details of the strip itself.

Model No.

SST-LS02

Material

18 pcs 5050 RGB LED with magnetic strip and adhesive tape

Pin definition

+12V, G, R, B*

Included Parts

RGB LED strip x 2

Y cable x 2**

Length

300mm

Wattage

1.44W (12V, 0.12A)

Tandem limits

5 pcs on each line

Weight

30g

Remarks

* Please check the control box and motherboard pin header that you want to connect are the same as LS02’s pin definition.

Each of these RGB LED strips have a total of 18 LEDs in it, and has both adhesive and magnet embedded on the strip itself for easy installation. Pretty common for RGB LED strips for PC cases these days.

However, the uncommon thing about the SilverStone LS02 is the finish that encases the RGB LED itself. Unlike other RGB LED strips that are encased in clear transparent rubber, SilverStone opted for a “special light diffusion material” because “it disperses its colors smoother and with better uniformity” for the LS02. Of course, we’ll be testing this claim too.

You can also technically daisy chain a total of 5 of them in one line, as that’s the tandem limit that SilverStone advised.

Test system configuration

CPU Cooler

Noctua NH-D15

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 1700

GPU

MSI GEFORCE GTX 1060 3GT OC

Motherboard

ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4

Memory

Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB

Primary Hard Drive

Plextor M8SeGN

Power Supply

SilverStone ET-650B 650W

Chassis

BitFenix Aurora

Fans

Noctua NF-F12

Others

SilverStone LS02 RGB LED Strip

Using the SilverStone LS02

Alright, so here’s the deal. RGB LED isn’t particularly my type of thing. I used the built-in magnets on the SilverStone LS02 and stuck it onto the BitFenix Aurora that we reviewed here – one at the top, another at the bottom. After that, I routed the included cables and powered it up.

Everything looks gorgeous!

With that said, the SilverStone LS02 is actually blindingly bright. Its white color isn’t true white and brings in a slight blue tint.

When it comes to color diffusion, I have to say that whatever SilverStone is doing with the “special light diffusion material”, it’s performing great. There are no “bright spots” even though my CPU heatsink block is in close proximity to the SilverStone LS02 strip.

A total of 18 RGB LEDs in 30cm length.

One small little point to highlight is that both ends of the RGB LED strip have about 5cm of cable coming off of it. This excess is where the connector is found. Though it offers flexibility, some might complain that the extra cable slack is annoying as it keeps curving upwards by itself. In the BitFenix Aurora however, there are some anchor points that hold the excess cable length down.

Wrapping up the SilverStone LS02

It’s an RGB LED strip – and there isn’t much to talk about it. It’s bright and can stick to any surface as it has both adhesive and magnet. Other than that, it has a slight blue tint when all red, green, and blue values are maxed out.

Is it worth the price? That truly depends if you need an RGB LED strip. Make sure your motherboard has compatible RGB LED headers, else you’ll have to fork out even more money to buy a RGB LED control box.

Now, over to you – are you going to get one? Let us know down in the comments below!